Ammunition shell holder



Nov. 1, 1966 P. D. RlGTERlNK 3,282,636

AMMUNITION SHELL HOLDER Filed Sept. 28, 1964 IN I v M11" INVENTOR.PAAS'TU/U 0. nary/MK ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,282,636AMIWUNITION SHELL HOLDER Preston D. Rigterink, 1656 Wolverins St.,Holland, Mich. Filed Sept. 28, 1964, Ser. No. 399,578 4 Claims. (Cl.312-280) This invention relates to a device for holding armed rounds ofammunition in a ready position for loading a weapon, and moreparticularly to an ammunition holder of this nature which includes aprovision for storing spent rounds of ammunition so that they may beused again in the future.

In the shooting of firearms for sport and recreation, and especially intarget practice and trapshooting, participants are for the most partskilled in reloading their own ammunition. Consequently, it is desirableto save each cartridge casing after that particular round has beenfired, so that the casing may later be reloaded and used again at afuture date. Many, many rounds of ammunition are normally fired in abrief period of target shooting, however, and it is cumbersome andannoying to attempt to clean up all of these spent casings when theshooting is completed. By this time casings are scattered all about thearea and retrieving them requires considerable stooping and groping inthe dirt while the next shooter impatiently awaits his turn. Moreover,no provision is readily available for storing the individual casings asthey are ejected from the gun. It would be far too bulky to place all ofthe casings in ones clothing, and shooting ranges normally provide onlya small stand upon which to place ones fresh rounds of ammunition at thecommencement of the shooting, and upon which there is no extra space forempty casings.

It is a major object of this invention to provide a shell holder whichis capable, even when supported only upon a typically small shootingrange stand or the like, of retaining a large number of separatelyspaced, loaded shells in a readily accessible upright position, on ah'ousing base that uniquely retains and stores empty shells depositedtherein between shots.

The invention provides a most effective .and convenient solution of thedifficulties described above, by holding the fresh or armed rounds ofammunition in a ready position for the shooter to use in reloading hisweapon, uniquely positioned with respect to the empty shell storagechamber so that spent casings may be deposited with part of the samemotion necessary to reach for the specially oriented and positioned,fresh shells with which to reload the weapon. Furthermore, theseobjectives are achieved by a device which is economical to manufacture,of low initial cost, which is durable and maintenance-free, and yetwhich is an attractive accessory piece of equipment. It has truesimplicity of structure. Indeed, its very simplicity, in contrast to itsunique functions is one of its chief attributes.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention willbecome increasingly apparent upon consideration of the followingspecification and its appended claims, taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, wherein;

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the ammunition shell holder; and

FIG. 2 is a central section of the inventive device.

Briefly, this invention includes an enclosure defined by interjoined.side, top, and bottom portions which are further formed so as to definean opening which gives access into the interior of the enclosure. Thisaccess opening is preferably in the general form of an upright hopper orfunnel-shaped apparatus, so as to be readily accessible from the top andalso so that empty cartridge casings may be easily dropped into theinterior of the enclosure.

3,282,636 Patented Nov. 1, 1966 ice . The device further includes aplurality of spaced chambers which are formed in the top portion of theenclosure, and which have a diameter which is slightly greater than thatof the largest cartridge expected to be used, so that the cartridges mayeasily be inserted into and withdrawn from the chambers, which thusserve to hold the cartridges in a ready upright position spaced fromeach other.

Referring now in more detail to the drawings, in the perspective of FIG.1 the ammunition shell holder is seen to comprise an enclosure 10, whichincludes a front side 12, a rear side 14, a pair of lateral sides 16 and18, a bottom 20, and a top 22, which are all interjoined at their commonboundaries in a conventional manner. The sides, top, and bottomportion-s may be formed. from any suitable sheet material, but inpractice it has been discovered that plastic substances seem to lendthemselves most readily to current manufacturing techniques and may beused to produce the most economical embodiment of the device.

As may best be seen in FIG. 2, the lateral sides 16 and 13 are actuallyfive-sided pieces whose front extremity (i.e., that which joins frontside 12) is in the form of a more of less pointed two-sided projection.Thus, when front side 12 is joined to the remainder of the enclosure itan access opening 24 is formed between the front and lateral sides andthe top 22, which opening angles upwardly in the manner of a hopper orfunnel (note FIG. 1.)

The top 22, which closes the upper extremity of the enclosure 10,preferably is formed from a somewhat thicker piece of material than arethe sides and bottom of the device. A plurality of chambers 26 areformed into the top, and it is into these chambers that cartridges willbe placed when the device is in use. Consequently, the chambers 26should be of a diameter slightly larger than that of the ammunitionwhich is to be used. For example, since trapshooting involves the use ofshotguns, an ammunition holder which is practice has been found to giveexcellent results in this field possessed a top whose upper surface wassix inches square, and which had chambers 26 which were inche indiameter and 1% inches deep. This particular size of chamber is verywell suited for most conventional types of shotgun shells. Of course ifother sizes were used, or if a rifle were being fired, the chambers 26could be of a different size, in order to more closely accommodate aparticular cartridge. The particular size of the upper suface area ofthe top 22 may of course also be varied according to particularapplications, but since the normal round of trapshooting is twenty-fiveshots, it has been found that twentyfive of the chambers 26 having thedimensions previously given may conveniently be formed in the six-inchsquare top. A shell holder of this size fits securely and readily on thesmall conventional shell stands at a shooting range. Also, the lowerportion of the enclosure 10, which supports the top 22 and the armedshells doubles as the empty shell storage chamber.

Having fully and completely described the structure of the ammunitionshell holder, its use in operation should be obvious. Prior to enteringthe area of active shooting, the marksman inserts his live ammunitioninto the chambers 26 in the top 22 of the enclosure 10, one cartridgebeing inserted into each chamber. Each cartridge is then securely heldin spaced relationship to every other cartridge.

As the firing commences, each time the gun must be loaded the empty,spent cartridges are removed from the Weapon and dropped into the accessopening 24 as the shooter reaches for a fresh supply of live, armedcartridges from the chambers 26 in the top 22 of the device.

Thus, with very nearly the same motion previously required to merelyload the firearm anew, the marksman may, through the use of the presentinvention, also place the spent cartridge casings in a place ofcontainment and storage, so that the casings will not become lost.Moreover; no longer will a time-consuming and cumbersome search of theimmediate area be required while other shooters are forced to waitbefore they may take their respective turns at shooting. Finally,through the use of the present invention the spent casings of two ormore shooters will no longer become intermixed, as has frequently beenthe case heretofore.

It should now be apparent that the ammunition shell holder disclosedherein is subject to modification and alteration without departing fromthe spirit of the invention and the concept underlying it, and thatconsequently all such modifications and alterations should be consideredas within the scope of the invention unless the appended claims by theirexpress language state otherwise.

I claim:

1. A .firearm accessory for holding cartridges, comprising: an enclosurehaving interjoined side, top, and bottom portions forming a cartridgereceiving space under said top portion; a plurality of upright spacedchambers formed in said top portion above said space for holding armedcartridges in fixed spaced relation relative to each other, saidchambers each being of a predetermined size determined by the size ofcartridges to be held thereby; the horizontal cross-sectional Width ofsaid chambers in all directions being slightly greater than the diameterof said cartridges and the depth of said chambers being less than thelength of said cartridges to allow the same to protrude upwardly fromsaid top whereby said cartridges can be readily inserted and withdrawntherefrom; and an 4 access opening formed in at least one of saidportions for admitting spent cartridges into said space, said accessopening being located directly adjacent said top portion, whereby emptycartridges may be deposited therein with the same motion necessary forreaching toward said top portion to select live cartridges therefrom.

2. The device of claim 1 in which first and second side portions extendparallel to each other in one direction beyond the said top portionthereby providing an opening from the top.

3. The device of claim 2 in which first and second parallel sideportions terminate at a third side portion, said third side portionhaving a depth less than the space between said top and bottom portions;and said first-and second side portions having top edges inclineddownwardly from the said top portion to said third side portion therebyproviding an opening from both the side and the top.

4. The device of claim 3 in which the third side portion inclinesdownwardly toward the space under said top.

port-ion causing cartridges deposited through said opening to slideunder said top portion.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 652,778 7/ 1900James 206l6 691,695 1/ 1902' Aderer 20617 2,505,898 5/ 1950 Jaffe et al312290 X 2,795,323 6/1957 Amundsen 2063 CLAUDE A. LE ROY, PrimaryExaminer.

CHANCELLOR E. HARRIS, Examiner.

F. DOMOTOR, Assistant Examiner.

1. A FIREARM ACCESSORY FOR HOLDING CARTRIDGE, COMPRISING: AN ENCLOSUREHAVING INTERJOINED SIDE, TOP, AND BOTTOM PORTIONS FORMING A CARTRIDGERECEIVING SPACE UNDER SAID TOP PORTION; A PLURALITY OF UPRIGHT SPACEDCHAMBERS FORMED IN SAID TOP PORTION ABOVE SAID SPACE FOR HOLDING ARMEDCARTRIDGES IN FIXED SPACED RELATION RELATIVE TO EACH OTHER, SAIDCHAMBERS EACH BEING OF A PREDETERMINED SIZE DETERMINED BY THE SIZE OFCARTRIDGES TO BE HELD THEREBY; THE HORIZONTAL CROSS-SECTIONAL WIDTH OFSAID CHAMBERS IN ALL DIRECTIONS BEING SLIGHTLY GREATER THAN THE DIAMETEROF SAID CARTRIDGES AND THE DEPTH OF SAID CHAMBERS BEING LESS THAN THELENGTH OF SAID CARTRIDGES TO ALLOW THE SAME TO PROTRUDE UPWARDLY FROMSAID TOP WHEREBY SAID CARTRIDGES CAN BE READILY INSERTED AND WITHDRAWNTHEREFROM; AND AN ACCESS OPENING FORMED IN AT LEAST ONE OF SAID PORTIONSFOR ADMITTING SPENT CARTRIDGES INTO SAID SPACE, SAID ACCESS OPENINGBEING LOCATED DIRECTLY ADJACENT SAID TOP PORTION, WHEREBY EMPTYCARTRIDGES MAY BE DEPOSITED THEREIN WITH THE SAME MOTION NECESSARY FORREACHING TOWARD SAID TOP PORTION TO SELECT LIVE CARTRIDGES THEREFROM.